Fradiani Frenzy Takes Over Guilford

#FradianiFever hit Guilford Friday as the town celebrated the "American Idol" star.

GUILFORD — The screaming officially started at 11:45 a.m. on Friday and didn't stop until 6 p.m., as this shoreline town spent the day celebrating local celebrity Nick Fradiani, who is in the Top 4 of the Fox TV show "American Idol."

Infectious giddiness took over the town of 22,400. Schools let out early, traffic slowed to a crawl on local streets, shrieking teenage girls erupted out of parked cars and "Go Nick" posters popped up in windows everywhere, spreading the "Fradiani Fever" or "Fradiani Frenzy," depending on whom you asked.

New Haven County's very own "Idol" was on a one-day, "Idol"-sponsored "Hometown Hero" visit. He and the other Top 4 finishers visited his or her hometown.

Fradiani, who graduated from Guilford High and was king of the junior prom, started his day by pulling up in a white stretch SUV limo at his alma mater. He was greeted, along with his parents, Nick and Elizabeth Fradiani, by Gov. Dannell Malloy and state Rep. Sean Scanlon, a GHS Class of 2004 classmate.

Old friends and favorite teachers greeted and took selfies with Fradiani, including Lindsay Fiondella.

"We've been friends all these years. He sang at our wedding last July," Fiondella said. "We were the only ones watching him, and now to see him living his dream is incredible."

Watch Nick Fradiani's Return To Connecticut

The screaming officially started at 11:45 a.m. on Friday and didn't stop until 6 p.m., as Guilford caught #FradianiFever over the return of Nick Fradiani.

The screaming officially started at 11:45 a.m. on Friday and didn't stop until 6 p.m., as Guilford caught #FradianiFever over the return of Nick Fradiani.

Fradiani then entered a gym pep rally to a deafening ovation by the school's 1,100 current students, waving Nick banners, wearing Nick T-shirts and screaming Nick's name. The school's Voices choir, of which Fradiani was a member, sang "Man in the Mirror," and then Fradiani sang "In Your Eyes" and the Matchbox Twenty song "Bright Lights," as students waved their glowing cellphones in time to the music. Every move he made was recorded by "American Idol" cameras for possible use in "b-roll" on next week's show.

Scanlon said the lovefest was one of the last assemblies to be held at that gym. Guilford High will move to a new building next year.

The announcement came at the end of a two-hour, star-studded live season finale on Fox. When "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest...

The list that started in 2002 with then-unknown, now-superstar Kelly Clarkson has a new name: Nick Fradiani of Guilford won the 14th season of "American Idol" on Wednesday night.

The announcement came at the end of a two-hour, star-studded live season finale on Fox. When "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest...

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After the pep rally, Fradiani's limo moved on to Bishop's Orchards, the food market that created an ice cream flavor in his honor, Fradiani Frenzy (chocolate ice cream with peanut-butter cups). A pack of girls from Branford wearing springy antennae on their heads with little pictures of Fradiani on each antenna surrounded him as he got out of the limo in the parking lot and followed him excitedly into the store.

Shoppers with baskets on their arms rolled their eyes good-naturedly. "It's the wrong day to shop," one said, and laughed.

The handlers accompanying Fradiani were a little silly, too. "Can we hold off on the Fradiani frenzy until we can all go to the bathroom?" one said, only half joking.

Mid-afternoon, a parade stepped off from the Guilford fairgrounds and proceeded three-quarters of a mile to the town green. Thousands lined the streets as a marching band, a fife and drum corps and Fradiani paraded by, such a crush of humanity that only the people sitting on roofs of buildings had unobstructed views.

On the green, people began gathering at 8 a.m. for the 4 p.m. concert, which began 45 minutes late. Gail Lieberman said she and her sister left Mineola, N.Y., at midnight to be among the first to arrive. "He's gonna win, no doubt about it. I have five phones I vote with," she said.

Brian McGlone, the town's economic development coordinator, said several requests to camp on the Green overnight were denied.

Thousands packed the 10-acre green for the show — the official town estimate is 6,000 to 7,000, McGlone said — including Scanlon and other local politicians, among them state Sen. Ted Kennedy Jr., who represents the town.

Fradiani, his father and his two bandmates in the band Beach Avenue, Nick Abraham and Ryan Zipp, played a mix of covers and originals during the concert. Before the show, Abraham said getting ready for the performance was difficult because the band had to prepare without Fradiani, who's been in L.A. for weeks. Fradiani joked about that on stage: "We're winging it right now for the biggest show of our lives."